The final round at the WGC Cadillac Championship was jammed packed with great players making great shots (and some not so great) but Adam Scott showed for the second week in a row that his Pro V 1’s aren’t the only balls has.
If there is an award for Comeback Round of the Year Scott has to have his name on that trophy.
He had such an ugly start, rinsing two balls (his Titleists) for two double bogeys in his first five holes. He found himself six shots back of he lead. But he said on the sixth tee he took a moment for himself and convinced himself to try and just climb back in to a decent round and avoid shooting an 80.
But there was no 80 in store for this determined golfer. He battled back and as much as we talk about his driver and irons his putter had as much to do with this win as any club.
Birdies on six and eight and then tree in a row from ten through twelve had him back in the hunt. A bird on fourteen had him to twelve under and in the lead.
And then on sixteen he did the unthinkable. From a perfect lie in a bunker behind the sixteenth green he shanked it. Yep, a shank coming down the stretch with the lead. His ball barely missed rolling into another bunker and he gathered himself and was able to salvage a par on what was a birdie hole.
Many a player would have phoned it in after falling six off the lead early in his round. Many would have been unnerved by a shank at such a crucial time. But this is a new Adam Scott.
And the thrills weren’t done yet. On the 72nd hole he was stymied by a small palm tree and had to play a brave shot by starting his ball at the water and hope to fade it back towards the green if he was to land on the putting surface.
Unfortunately the wind didn’t move his ball and he played no fade so his shot missed the green and rolled perilously close to the water. Luckily it stopped short of the water but still in the hazard.
Now he needed to get up and down for par and the win or face a playoff with Bubba Watson.
Scott, and his brass balls played a fine shot to seven feet and with his new putter he rolled it in dead center.
I’d love to know when, if ever a player won on the PGA Tour after carding two double bogeys, falling six back after five holes and then shanking one!
This is a new Adam Scott we are seeing this year and whether it’s his new putter and putting stroke or his realization that he is one of the most talented players in the game or his maturation at being a new and now comfortable father or any combination of the above, Scott has regained his spot as one of the best players in the world.
Watch Scott’s news conference and listen to him say he was “good and ugly…all in 18 holes.” And how he as “so embarrassed (by the shank) playing with Phil Mickelson.”
And he talks about now being comfortable with his life of being a husband and a father and how he feels more in control of his life.
Two wins in two weeks and a new-found confidence…0h, I’d say for sure he looks in control.
Related Articles
